Some Special Words - Pt 5

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 ESV).

Today we will see our fifth special word from the Gospel. It is “justification.” The Greek word used in our reading today is δικαιούμενοι, which is pronounced “dikaioumenoi.” The Apostle Paul only uses this variance of the word in this passage and should best be translated “and have been freely justified by his grace.” It is a past tense verb that declares the action finished and complete. Justification is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous. It is a legal term signifying acquittal, a fact that makes it unpalatable to many in our day. We tend to trust more in our own ability thus we dismiss anything that would suggest a judgment without a sentencing of some sort. We should be clear that our hesitation was not shared by the biblical writers. In their day it was axiomatic that a wealthy and important citizen would not be treated in a law court in the same way as a poor man. In the ancient Code of Hammurabi it is declared plainly that if a citizen knocked out the tooth of another citizen his own tooth should be knocked out. But if the victim was a vassal it sufficed to pay a small fine. Nobody expected strict justice in human tribunals but the biblical writers were sure that God is a God of justice. Judgment had to require sentencing. Our guilt required our death (cf. Romans 6:23). The law demanded the ultimate payment. The great news of the Gospel is that God ahs paid our debt with the life of His son, Jesus. While we all have little choice but to plead guilty before the divine tribunal, if we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, he has already paid the penalty for our sins, and we can go free. That is the picture behind justification. That term means that God has declared us free from sin and free from punishment, for Christ took our punishment on the cross. We have been “justified freely by his grace.” There will be no need for further declarations or appeals. We need not merely wait until the assigned hour for the carrying out of our sentence. Jesus has already met that appointment and completed our punishment. Justice has been served and we are free from our penalty. Hallelujah! What a Savior!